Harry didn't pause in the common room; instead he went straight upstairs and got into bed.
The common room below him slowly filled with the noise of chattering students. He heard his name a few times but he didn't know if speaking good or bad things about him.
About an hour later, the dorm door opened again and his roommates came in.
"I wonder where he got to?" Dean said, pulling back his covers. None of them noticed Harry listening from his own bed.
"Dumbledore said he was resting"
"Do you reckon he's still in the castle?"
"I'll bet he's ARGH!" Neville had just spotted him and ran backwards into the water jug, spilling its contents all across the floor.
"Is that you, Harry?" Seamus asked, peering through the darkness. Ron, the only one who hadn't spoken, stood at a safe distance, watching Harry wearily as Dean lit some candles with his wand.
"What are you doing here, Harry?" he asked, looking around. Dean had been one of the Gryffindors who had sworn allegiance to Harry.
"Resting" Harry, said simply, putting his arms behind his head and staring defiantly at each of the boys.
Neville, having gotten over the shock of having found Harry in his bed, was now climbing into his own. He didn't seem disturbed at all at the fact that he was only five feet away from a potentially dangerous criminal.
Dean and Seamus were now climbing into their own beds, throwing random questions at Harry about his trial.
Ron stood hesitantly over the other side of the room for a little longer before climbing into bed and yanking the hangings closed.
Harry woke extremely early the next morning. So early that the moon was still out. Not being able to get back to sleep, he got up and went over to the repaired pitcher of water to pour himself a glass.
"What are you doing?" Harry turned around and saw that Ron was sitting up in bed, pointing his wand at Harry. He looked as if he hadn't slept a wink all night.
"Getting a drink" Harry said slowly, holding up his glass for Ron to see.
"Yeah right" Ron struggled out of bed so he could face. "You we're going to poison us or something…"
Harry laughed and gulped the water down. He put the glass on the windowsill and moved back to his bed. Ron blocked him, thinking that he was trying to get his wand from his bedside table.
"I'm not a bad person, Ron" Harry stated, holding up his hands in a truce.
"Liar!" Ron sneered. "I should have known. The signs were so obvious. Friends with the Slytherins, Snakes in class, that ring on your finger…IMMOBULUS!" Ron tried to freeze Harry but Harry threw it off immediately. Ron didn't have a very powerful attack.
"WHAT THE HELLS GOTTEN INTO YOU!" Harry screamed as Ron tried to freeze him again. Harry ran to the door and down to the common room. He didn't want to fight back because he didn't know if he'd be able to restrain himself to just warning Ron. He might accidentally kill him. Ron came racing after him.
"Going and visiting the dark lord in the forest without throwing a single spell? I'm not stupid, Harry! I know that this cease fire is just an excuse to join him!"
Ron tried to stun him this time and Harry had to throw himself over a table to avoid it.
"Stop running away, Harry! FIGHT ME!"
"I'm not going to fight you, Ron" Harry got to his feet. Students from other dorms were coming downstairs to see what the fuss was about.
"REDUCTO!" Ron's spell hit Harry squarely in the chest and Harry went flying back into a wall. Several girls screamed as Harry slid down the wall.
"Fudge told me that you put the Cruciatus curse on him! I know what you did!"
"Fudge? You were talking to Fudge?" Harry used the table to pull himself to his feet. "Give me your wand, Hermione," he whispered as she tried to help him. She handed her wand over as Ron used the reducto spell again.
"Protego!" Harry shouted, bringing up a shield just in time. The spell rebounded and hit Ron in the face. The red head went slamming back into the wall at the speed of a bullet.
"He was talking to Fudge? When did he talk to Fudge? Why?" Hermione was muttering away to herself and Harry tried to make sense of what she was saying while keeping an eye on Ron as he got to his feet, rather shakily, with his eyes glazed over. Harry suddenly realised what was going on.
"Hermione, Get Dumbledore. Fudge has Ron under the imperious curse!" Hermione hurried from the room as Ron advanced again.
"You always want attention, don't you, Harry? Always have to be the hero"
"If you want to wake up every morning not knowing if you, or one of your friends are going to die then that's fine by me but you do not accuse me of wanting attention" Harry snarled and suddenly he wanted to attack Ron, to hurt him beyond repair but he knew he couldn't. It wasn't Ron saying this; it was Fudge. Ron started firing continuous, random spells and Harry's shield failed him. Ron's Expelliarmus sent Hermione's wand soaring across the room and Harry fell backwards again.
Now, without a wand, Harry had only his raw energy to use and he didn't fancy to use it on his best friend. Ron advanced on him.
"Impedimenta!" Ron was thrown off his feet, dropping his wand and landing on a couch.
Dumbledore was standing at the door with Hermione at his side.
"Everyone back to bed, please" he said to the watching students. They filed out disappointedly, leaving Harry, Ron and Dumbledore alone. Ron was getting up again. He advanced on Harry again, not seeming to notice Dumbledore was there. Harry walked backwards slowly, glancing at Dumbledore who merely watched.
"Are you going to do something?" Harry asked desperately, ducking as Ron threw a punch.
"I'm just making sure he is actually under the curse. It could do damage to his brain if I tried to delete it with it being present"
"It could do great damage to my brain if you don't! Oh, forget this…" Ron's fist connected with Harry's jaw and Harry pushed Ron back, releasing a little magic as he did so.
Ron went zooming across the room where his head hit the wall. Very slowly, though clumsily, he got up and forced another attack.
"Deletrius!" Dumbledore shouted and Ron crumpled to the floor. After a few seconds, though, he got up again.
"Wha' goin' on?" he mumbled, pressing his hand to the bruise on the back of his head.
"When did Fudge talk to you, Mr Weasley?" Dumbledore asked as Harry slumped into a chair.
"Just-just before you called us to the hall" Ron scrunched up his face as he tried to recollect. "He asked me all this stuff about Harry, like what he did in our spare time and stuff. Then he…"
"Put the curse on you. Do you remember what you did after that?" Dumbledore pressed on. Harry noticed both the girls and boys dorm doors open a crack and knew that the whole house was listening in.
"Yes. I told him about Harry's snake, the ring and the weekend and with you-know-who"
"What about Harry's magic?"
"I told him that I think he might have more magic than he lets on but I wasn't sure. I'm sorry, Harry" Ron looked at the floor, his ears burning crimson. Harry let out a hollow laugh and massaged his jaw.
"They would have found out somehow. No harm done. Except to my jaw" he rubbed it even harder but that made it hurt more.
"Yeah well…you can whack a good hit yourself" Ron grinned and the lingering tension was broken.
"Did you see anyone else talking to Fudge?" Dumbledore continued urgently.
"Yeah. Claire spoke to him before I did. He tried to talk to Hermione but I think she ran off before he could do anything."
Dumbledore
stood up and strode over to the girls door and pulled it open.
Several girls fell out and the rest ran, screaming, upstairs.
"Stupid
bunch of…Professor!" Hermione appeared at the bottom of the
stairs wrapped in her nightgown.
"Hermione, will you go and collect Claire for me?"
Hermione raise an eyebrow then went back upstairs, followed by a few lingering girls. She appeared a second later, slightly out of breath.
"She has a knife," she groaned, moving aside as Dumbledore disappeared up the staircase.
"How did he do that? I thought guys couldn't go up there!"
"Use your brain, Ron, he's the bloody headmaster. He can go where he wants!" Hermione huffed before turning to Harry.
"Now that Ron has stopped trying to murder you, tell me how your trial went"
"Fine. 'Cept Fudge used the cruciatus curse on me and now he's turning my friends into assassins. What was Claire doing with the knife?"
"Staring at it. I think she was trying to fight the urge to kill you, or herself. I'm not sure."
Harry stood up and went over to the girls' dorm and peered up the stairs.
A group of boys came out of their own dorm and crowded around the room, shooting questions at Ron as to why he was trying to kill Harry. When Ron didn't answer they turned to Harry and began demanding why he was all of a sudden the most evil wizard in the world.
Dumbledore soon emerged with one arm around Claire and a butcher's knife in the other hand.
Harry paled considerably and stepped back to let them out.
All the girls filed out after them and jostled each other to get a peek at Ron who was lapping up the attention like a child.
Harry opened his arms and Claire stepped into them. Her face was pale and she looked like she hadn't slept either but she didn't cry. She simply rested her head on Harry's chest and stared out the window where the horizon was becoming grey.
"I think you should all go back to bed now and try and get a last hours sleep before breakfast. Make sure your trunks are packed. I shall see you in the morning" Dumbledore stood and watched as most of the students, realising there would be no more excitement, trudged back up their staircases. Dumbledore paused by the door.
"Hermione, a word please?" Hermione followed him out as the common room cleared of everyone except Harry and Claire.
"I tried to fight it, Harry, I really did," she said as they sat together by the window.
"I know. As long as he didn't hurt you"
They sat talking quietly until the sun was well up and people were re-surfacing. Hermione had not come back and they found her at the Gryffindor table at Breakfast.
"What did Dumbledore want?" Harry asked, sitting down next to her and piling his plate with bacon and pancakes. Four first year girls got up and moved away from him hurriedly and Harry realised that this wouldn't blow over any time soon.
"Never you mind" she snapped; her lack of sleep was showing as Harry tried to ignore a few Hufflepuff girls whispering behind him.
Breakfast was quiet and it wasn't long before they were standing on the sunny platform waiting for the train.
When the doors opened there was a mad rush to get compartments and Harry became lost from his friends because they had to push and shove to get on while all he had to go was look at people and they backed off.
When he was on the train he tucked Hedwig's cage more tightly under his arm and set off in search of an empty compartment, dragging his trunk along behind him.
There was one at the very end of the train and he stowed his stuff away and waited for his friends to show up. He knew Hermione, Ron and Malfoy had to go to the prefect's compartment so he was pretty much waiting for Claire.
When everyone was on the train jerked off and there was still no sign of Claire. Harry waited a few more minutes before going off in search of her.
He was halfway along the first carriage when he began wishing that he'd bought his invisibility cloak. In every compartment there was always one person who reacted to him sticking his head in the door. They screamed, tried to attack him or, in the Slytherins case, congratulated him on finally joining the dark side.
It wasn't long before he came across an empty compartment with only a trunk inside. Harry stood in the doorway, trying to figure out if it was Claire's or not when someone pushed him inside and locked the door. Harry turned and saw Cho standing there with a slight grin on her face.
"You know this was my last year, don't you, Harry?"
"Let me out, Cho" he said, adding a warning tone to his voice in an attempt to scare her off.
"I love you Harry. I love you so much and yet…" her voice wavered and her eyes filled with tears and yet somehow Harry knew they were fake. "And yet you continuously brush me off. You didn't even give me a chance!"
"Cho, I…" but he didn't get to finish; Cho pounced, planting a luscious kiss on his lips. For a moment Harry's mind flew back to the previous year when Cho had first kissed him. He'd liked her then, but now…
He pulled away and pushed Cho aside.
"Don't do this to yourself, Cho" he said sadly "there was something there, once, but-"
"But what? Nothing happened! Nothing changed!"
"-But" Harry continued as if she hadn't spoken. "I'm with Claire now. I love her more than anything and I don't want to throw that away." He stepped over to the door and unlocked it with a tap of his finger. "Have a nice life, Cho," he added with a small smile before leaving her there.
Ron, Hermione and Malfoy had managed to pass off their prefect duties to the fifth year students and were now waiting for Harry in his compartment.
"I'm going to get some food," Malfoy said after a while of staring out the window. He got up, leaving Hermione and Ron alone.
"What are you doing for the holidays?" Hermione asked, trying to make small talk as she still felt a little nervous being alone with Ron. She had been reading a book and when he didn't answer she looked up inquisitively.
His lips touched hers in a slow, soft kiss leaving Hermione to terrified to pull away. Finally she managed to do so with a gasp.
"I'll always be here for you, Hermione. Remember that if Malfoy ever gives you shit. Just so you know I care…" he stood up and walked out leaving Hermione sitting, utterly shocked, by herself.
Harry passed Ron on the way back to his compartment. He tried to pull him over but the redhead muttered something about prefect duties and hurried on.
Harry, perplexed, entered the compartment to find Hermione, knees drawn to her chest, staring out the window, crying silently.
"Hermione!" Harry said, shocked to see her like this. He knelt on the floor in front of her and took her hand.
"He kissed me, Harry" she said, furious with herself. "He kissed me again"
"Who did? Ron?"
She nodded without meeting his eye.
"Don't tell Draco, though" she added hurriedly as Harry got up and sat beside her. "I don't want Ron to get hurt. He was only trying to help me"
"It's not your fault"
"I just feel so bad about rejecting him…"
Harry leant back and touched his own lips where Cho's kiss was still lingering.
The compartment door slid open and Malfoy and Claire entered, their arms loaded up with sweets.
"What's up?" Malfoy asked, dumping his food on a spare seat and sitting opposite Hermione. Harry felt her shaking beside him as she tried to hold back a sob.
"Something in my eye" she murmured, brushing her tears away and smiling. Malfoy smiled back and offered her a chocolate frog.
Ron came back about an hour later and sat down as far away from Hermione as possible. Nobody said anything but Harry gave him one of his almost famous looks. Claire was asleep beside him after missing a whole nights sleep and it wasn't long before Ron dosed off as well.
Harry and Malfoy played a game off chess to pass the time but Harry couldn't get the sickly feeling out of his stomach that in a few hours he would soon be at Privet Drive with the Dursley's and Vernon's knife. He shuddered ever so lightly and Hermione gave him an odd look before continuing to stare out the window.
The day wore on slowly with nothing to eventful happening and when they pulled into Kings Cross in the late afternoon Harry woke Claire with a gutful of dread.
They exited the train, said goodbye to a few other friends before leaving through the barrier.
Malfoy and Hermione went first, then Claire and Ron, which left Harry, stalling for time, saying goodbye to Neville.
Finally, when he realised he couldn't stay on the platform forever, he pushed his trolley through the barrier feeling completely sick with himself.
But instead of seeing fat uncle Vernon, porky Dudley and bony Petunia, Harry saw what was probably the best sight in the world: Sirius.
His godfather was leaning on a wall with his arms crossed, grinning at Harry. Lupin and Kingsley weren't to far off, saying goodbye to the Weasley's.
Harry walked over to his godfather with a feeling of butterflies taking over the dread.
"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Harry asked weakly, preying with all his might that this wasn't a dream.
"Taking you home, what did you think I was doing?" Sirius answered, his grin broadening even more. Harry grinned back as his friends crowded around to say their goodbyes.
Three months with Sirius, no Dursley's and a cease fire with Voldemort.
This was going to be one hell of a summer.
Finish.
FINISHED! The first fan fiction I have ever, ever finished! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. I am posting chapter one of part two straight after I post this so look out for it. It'll be called: NOTHING'S MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SANDMAN.
Please review for this story and read my next one!
Thank you, Emily.